In last six weeks, Thunder won every game they’ve led by double-digits

One of the things that was frustrated about the Thunder, aside from their seeming lack of urgency at times, was their propensity to cough up big leads.

Particularly in the third quarter of games, the Thunder would often come out with a lack of fire, cough up big leads and end up losing games that they dominated at points.

Truth be told, the Thunder have lost a few games they should have won recently, but the season seemed to turn around for them in December. They’re 18-8 since December 1, and Russell Westbrook happens to be averaging a triple-double since then.

What’s more impressive, though, is the fact that the team has done a complete 180 with regard to holding big leads.

Prior to December 8, the Thunder built double-digit leads over their opponents 18 times. In those contests, however, they’d managed to go just 10-8.

The Thunder had a bad habit of losing games in which they had double-digit leads.

Saturday’s holding off the Cavaliers wasn’t an isolated incident. If the Thunder has a double-digit lead sliced, it’s not losing the game like it did the first quarter of the season.

The Thunder has had a double-digit lead in 31 of its 46 games this season. Its record when it gets a lead of 10 points or more is 23-8. The last of those eight losses came in an embarrassing defeat in Mexico City to the Brooklyn Nets, who the Thunder faces Tuesday. The Thunder led by 16 in that game.

Since that Dec. 7 night, OKC is 13-0 when it gets a double-digit lead.

“When teams would make their comeback, I thought we went into sort of a shock where we played uptight, we didn’t play as loose, and then we tried to will the game back on our own,” George said Saturday of the Thunder’s propensity to blow leads through the first 24 games of the season.

As the NBA heads toward the All-Star Break, the teams that are dialed in and focused most can usually make up some ground over teams that they trail in the standings.

It’s amazing to consider that, despite everything, the Thunder will enter play on January 23 just three games out of the third seed in the Western Conference.

Here’s one reason why.

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Moke Hamilton

Moke Hamilton is the Editor and Lead Writer for OKC Thunder Wire. Based in New York City, Moke is entering his seventh season covering the NBA and previously worked for Turner Sports and NBC Universal prior to joining the USA Today Sports Media Group. He can be heard on the air at 98.7FM ESPN New York where he resides as a studio contributor and also currently serves as a Deputy Editor for BasketballInsiders.com.